This invention concerns a storage device for an electric extension cord including a container and lid that allows for easy storage, while providing protection to and preventing entanglements of the extension cord.
Extension cords are essential accessories for residential, industrial, and commercial use of electrical items. They free electrical devices from the requirement of only being operated within a relatively short distance of five or six feet from a power source, like a receptacle. Extension cords permit the use of such electrical devices twenty-five, fifty, or even over 100 feet away from the power source, which proves to be invaluable. The extension cords are so long that they must be condensed into a manageable shape to be transported to the location of use or to be stored when not in use. However, problems arise with repeated storage and retrieval of these extension cords.
Conventionally, extension cords have been stored by manually winding or looping them into a coil that allows the cords to be easily handled, transported, and stored. Such a method is time consuming and can be awkward to perform. The coiled extension cord creates opportunities for the cord to become entangled with other objects in the storage area. Further, the turning of a cord as it is being wound creates a twist in the cord, which causes other concerns. The twist generated in the cord stays in the cord to a certain extent due to its length. This twist causes a cord to curl and twist on itself making the cord hard to handle and greatly increases the likelihood of knots and entanglements forming in the cord. Such knots and entanglements can create a hassle for the user to undo at best, or, at worst, can cause the life of the cord to be shortened or even damage the cord to the point of rendering it useless.
Automatic and manual spindle and reel arrangements have been developed that provide easier and faster methods to wind the extension cord into a coil. When in use, the extension cord is removed from these spindle and reel arrangements by pulling the cord off the reel, thereby causing the reel to rotate around the spindle in an unwinding direction. The cord is returned to the reel by turning the reel around the spindle in a counter winding direction. The reel, in most cases, will be turned manually though some varieties can be automatically rewound through spring actuated return reels. The arrangements provide an easier way to transport the extension cord than the manually made coil of cord.
These spindle and reel arrangements, however, add excessive weight to extension cords when transporting the extension cords. Such arrangements may require the extension cords to be attached to the spindle and reel arrangements, thereby adding bulk to the extension cords that can limit their usefulness. Further, these spindle and reel arrangements do not address twist build up in the cords caused by winding the cords into a coil, and may actually perpetuate the problem. The extension cords stored on such spindle and reel arrangements still tend to twist and curl, causing knots and entanglements in the cords when the cords are removed from the arrangement and are not fully extended.
Other methods and devices have been suggested for storage of an electric extension cord. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,457 discloses a cord bucket having a tight fitting top. The bucket provides a cut slot in its side to insert one end of an electric extension cord, while a central dome forming an aperture in the top provides a guide means for the other end of the cord. The user pulls the extension cord out of the cord bucket by pulling it through the central dome aperture and the cord is returned by pushing the cord back through the same aperture. In this manner, the cord is not wound or twisted into a coil. The slot formed in the side of the bucket tightly grips through friction the part of the extension cord that is inserted therein, so that the end of the extension cord extends on the outside of the bucket. When the extension cord is stored in the bucket, the opposing end of the cord sticks out of the top through the aperture of the central dome. The central dome with the aperture is designed to frictionally retard the movement of egress and ingress of the cord as it is pulled out of and pushed into the cord bucket. The cord bucket can further have a pivotal handle that connects to the sides of the bucket so that the handle can pivot over the top of the bucket from one side to the next. The pivotal handle provides a means to transport the bucket.
A major disadvantage in this bucket design still exists in that entanglements can still occur on a frequent basis. The method of pushing the cord back into the cord bucket through the friction gripping central dome prevents the winding of the extension cord. However, as the extension cord is pushed back into this limited space, experience has shown that the cord has a tendency to loop back around itself. When the extension cord is pulled back out, the loops tighten forming entanglement and knots. The entanglements and knots are difficult to get out, especially since the end of the cord is extending through the top of the bucket.
Also, due to friction grip of the central dome of the top around the cord, the end protruding therethrough is not easily removed from the top, making the cord essentially attached to the top of the bucket. This attachment is not only a problem for entanglements due to the cord insertion method for this device, it also makes the cord bucket cumbersome to use. One of the benefits an extension cord provides is that it allows a user to access electricity for utilizing the user's electrical products in a multitude of locations. Having a bucket or a top of a bucket attached to the cord limits this versatility of the cord by essentially always having an unnecessary item attached to the cord that can restrict the movement of the cord, especially when a cord has to be fully extended.
The insertion method for putting the cord in the cord bucket also is cumbersome to perform. Experience has shown that the more full the cord bucket becomes as the extension cord is inserted, the harder it is to insert the cord. By the time the user starts to insert the last few feet of extension cord, he or she must force and cajole the cord through the aperture in the central dome of the top. It ends up taking the user longer to insert the cord than to have wound it by hand.
The friction grips at the slot in the side of the bucket, and especially at the aperture of the central dome, can cause further problems. These friction grips put pressure on the extension cord as the cord is pulled out and pushed into the bucket. This frictional pressure along the cord that comes with continued use as it is pulled out and pushed in the cord bucket causes the insulation to deteriorate and wear down within the outer cover of the cord. The deterioration of the insulation leads to a less effective extension cord or worse. The cord without proper insulation can short circuit.
Also, the design of this cord bucket leaves the ends of the cord dangling on the outside of the cord bucket. The male end and female end of the cord have little if any protection against abrasions, unnatural bending, and general exposure to the outer environment. This dangling of the ends of the extension cord increases the likelihood that damage will occur to the cord ends. Further, a pivotal handle, which pivots around the opening of the bucket, provides another component on which the cord can entangle.
Traditional marketing methods used to sell extension cords may also perpetuate the problems caused by winding the extension cord into a coil. Electric extension cords sold in most hardware or home improvement stores are wrapped in a coil that have been tied together in some manner. The coiling of the extension cord as stated above adds twists and kinks to the cord that increases the likelihood that the cord will become entangled or knotted at a later time.
A need still exists for a storage device for an electric extension cord that does not require the extension cord to be wound into a coil and prevents the likelihood of entanglements and knots, while providing easy and quick storage. A need also exists for providing protection to both the cord and the cord ends without exposing the cord and cord ends to any unnecessary opportunities for damage.